Dana Shaw

We’re also hiring a Research Tech: jobs.jhu.edu/job-invite/1...

The O'Neal Lab in @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social is hiring a Lab Manager to work on ticks and tick-borne diseases! You can apply here: jobs.jhu.edu/job-invite/1...

💯 These guys are fascinating - I could watch them swim around all day!

Check these guys out! #MicroSky #LymeDisease

These results indicate that ATR could impact Ixodes population dynamics, prevalence of infected ticks, and pathogen circulation in the wild!

When challenged with Borrelia or Anaplasma, larvae fed on sensitized mice ingested more bacteria. Notably, although sex did not impact larval feeding success, it did influence pathogen load in the tick, suggesting that undefined variables between male and female mice influence transmission dynamics.

Ticks fed on sensitized mice ingested more host leukocytes when compared to those fed on naïve hosts, which rarely ingested nucleated cells.

…with an influx of basophils, eosinophils, neutrophils, and T lymphocytes

Mice exhibited increasingly severe inflammation at tick bite sites...

Repeated I. scapularis larval infestations on P. leucopus lead to reduced feeding success (over 50%) and decreased blood meal weight.

Acquired tick resistance in Peromyscus leucopus alters Ixodes scapularis infection | Infection and Immunity The incidence of tick-borne disease in the United States has been on the rise over the last decade, with 50,865 cases reported in 2019 increasing to 73,384 cases in 2022 (1). However, passive surveill...

Happy to share the latest pub from our lab!

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

We found that reservoir host species, Peromyscus leucopus, develop acquired tick resistance against larval Ixodes scapularis, which reduces tick feeding success and affects pathogen ingestion by larvae.

Check out the latest Nature Microbiology Journal Club article written by Cameron Coyle spotlighting the diverse roles that tick haemocytes have in arthropod immunity and fitness!

This piece highlights @rolandelliagus.bsky.social and Joao Pedra’s work, linked here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sunday funday 🤩 🚲 🏊🏻‍♀️

NIH wants to hear from you. No really.

Request for Information on Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

A professional job announcement flyer from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertising the position of Assistant Professor in Insect Systematics. The flyer is divided into sections detailing the job description, required qualifications, and responsibilities, including research, teaching, service, and collaboration. The layout uses red and grey colors, includes a university logo, and prominently features a vibrant photo of an orange and black butterfly resting on a plant. A QR code is present for easy access to application details.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring an Assistant Professor specializing in insect systematics. Opportunities like this are rare and valuable! (Not many jobs like this out there!) Spread the word to anyone who might be interested or benefit.
#entomology #science #sciencejobs #bugsky 🧪

The Tiny Thieves Inside Every Tick Bite Every summer, millions of Americans venture into tall grass and wooded trails, unknowingly walking into microscopic crime scenes. Inside the ticks waiting in that vegetation, bacteria are pulling off one of nature's most elegant heists—turning their hosts' own cellular machinery into accomplices. New research reveals exactly how the microbes behind Lyme disease and anaplasmosis hijack tick biology to fuel their spread.

The Tiny Thieves Inside Every Tick Bite

Every summer, millions of Americans venture into tall grass and wooded trails, unknowingly walking into microscopic crime scenes. Inside the ticks waiting in that vegetation, bacteria are pulling off one of nature's most elegant heists—turning their hosts'…

Thrilled to see this out in PNAS today!!🎉 Big congratulations to graduate student @kaylee-vosbigian.bsky.social on her first, first-author paper!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Tips For Preventing And Treating Tick Bites Summer is tick season. The Onion shares tips for protecting yourself from ticks and the diseases that they carry. Wear long sleeves and tall socks when volunteering at the local tick shelter. Hike in ...

Pro-tips for this summer:

theonion.com/tips-for-pre...

Spring evening on the Palouse with my best girl

Repping the WSU CVM today at the Pullman science rally! #standupforscience

Proud of this crew! #standupforscience #MicroSky

#standupforscience #microsky

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me.

Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

Given that lipid hijacking is common among arthropod-borne microbes, ATF6-mediated induction of Stomatin may be a mechanism that is exploited in many vector-pathogen relationships for the survival and persistence of transmissible microbes!

Using ArthroQuest, we found that, in contrast to humans, the large majority of arthropods had positive hits in the promoter regions of Stomatin orthologs, suggesting that the ATF6-regulated nature of Stomatin may be a common feature among blood-feeding arthropods!

ArthroQuest can search 20 different, pre-loaded arthropod vector genomes for user-specified transcription factor binding motifs in promoter regions. Corresponding genes can then be downloaded as a table. Currently available genomes include mosquitos, sand flies, lice, mites, fleas, and other ticks!

Since many non-model organism genomes have a limited number of tools available for genome and proteome analyses, Kaylee used her R script to develop a publicly-available, web-based tool through Shiny App termed “ArthroQuest” datahub.vetmed.wsu.edu/Shaw/ArthroQ...

When we blocked Stomatin we found that although it caused an increase in total cellular cholesterol, it was not accessible to Anaplasma, which restricted growth and survival of the bacterium!

We found that knocking down stomatin restricted Anaplasma growth in ticks! Since Stomatin has roles in lipid homeostasis and vesicle transport, we asked if Stomatin could be impacting cholesterol dynamics in tick cells.

When stimulated, ATF6 functions as a transcription factor, but how is it supporting Anaplasma infection? Kaylee wrote an R script to query all promoter regions in the Ixodes genome for ATF6 binding sites. Corresponding gene information revealed that Stomatin was a potential ATF6-regulated target.